Henry Rigdon

As Henry Rigdon, COO at Northeast Georgia Health System can attest, HBOC's Outsourcing Services Group has remained by the health system's side for 20 years, ensuring that its technology and services are always in line with the organization's mission and vision.

Outsourcing IT isn't a solution limited to the needs of U.S. healthcare organizations.As you'll also read in this issue, many Canadian healthcare organizations now regard outsourcing as the answer to meeting care delivery models of the future.

As healthcare organizations prepare to provide and account for care in the next century, they must have the right people, processes and technology to compete.With HBOC by their sides, not only can they compete, they can lead healthcare in the year 2000 and beyond.

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"Like Northeast Georgia Health System, HBOC has recognized the changes in the marketplace," says NGHS chief operating officer Henry Rigdon."Through its Outsourcing Services Group, we've gained access to the skill sets and technology we need to retain our leading-edge reputation."

North General Hospital, New York

The healthcare environment is very competitive in the Northeast.To ensure its survival as it evolved into an integrated delivery network, North General Hospital two years ago faced immediate challenges of upgrading its communications infrastructure and deploying information technology across the enterprise.

Other panelists were Kinn Elliott, director of government relations for the Medical Association of Georgia; Henry Rigdon, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Northeast Georgia Medical Center and Mimi Collins, chief executive officer of the Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville.
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Such high costs continue to drive insurers out of the state, Rigdon said.

"Five years ago, there were 15 insurers willing to write premiums in the state," he said.

Rigdon retires from Northeast Georgia Health SystemExecutive VP and COO Henry Rigdon retired from Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) and Health System in Gainesville in October 2004.Rigdon, who began his career at NGMC in 1977, has held his current post since 1990.Under his leadership, the medical center's assets grew from $23 million in 1977 to $558 million in 2004.

Henry Rigdon

Henry Rigdon, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Northeast Georgia Medical Center, announced Thursday he is retiring after 27 years of service with the hospital and its health system.
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Rigdon, 55, was among the applicants for Ferguson's job, but the board of directors ultimately selected Wyoming hospital administrator Jim Gardner.
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"I was certainly interested in the position," Rigdon said Thursday."But I'm not leaving because I didn't get it."

Rigdon said he'd been considering retirement for some time."This is a very demanding job, with long hours," he said.
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Gardner said Rigdon informed him of his decision on Monday.
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Unlike Ferguson, Rigdon does not plan to stay on to help his successor learn the ropes."I'm comfortable that we've got a strong leadership structure in place," he said."We have a solid management team that can pitch in until a replacement is found."

A native of Fort Valley, Rigdon came to the medical center in 1977 to serve his internship while earning a master's degree in health care administration from Georgia State University.He was the hospital's chief financial officer before being named chief operating officer in 1990.

"I'm extremely proud to have been associated with this organization," he said."It's been a very rewarding experience."

Of the many changes that took place under Rigdon's watch, he ranks the Ronnie Green Heart Center as perhaps the hospital's greatest achievement."The development and implementation of the open-heart surgery program (in August 2002) has had a tremendous impact on this entire institution," he said.

Rigdon's other favorite projects include the satellite cancer treatment center in Toccoa, which opened in September 2001, and the addition of neonatology services for high-risk newborns in 1996.

Rigdon also played a key role in the medical center's purchase of Lanier Park Hospital in February 2001."We were able to successfully assimilate Lanier Park under a very short deadline, and it's worked out well," he said.

As for the future, Rigdon said he has no specific plans."I wanted to retire while I was still healthy, and I'd like to relax and take it easy for a while, maybe do some fishing," he said.

But he did not rule out taking a position with another institution at some point.

"If an opportunity presented itself, I would consider it," he said.

"The tremendous impact of Northeast Georgia Medical Center on the local economy further demonstrates our mission to improve the health of our community in all we do," says Henry Rigdon, executive vice president of NGMC.

Henry Rigdon

The chaos and devastation caused by the terrorist acts of September 11th are exacting an enormous physical and emotional toll on the families of the victims, the survivors, and indeed, the entire country.
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Henry Rigdon is Executive Vice President of Northeast Georgia Health Systems and 2001 United Way of Hall County Board Chairman.

Henry C. Rigdon, CHENortheast Georgia Medical Center